When someone new approaches me with a video project they’ve shot that they want me to gently critique I can always tell if that person has had any still photography training within just a few seconds. The first things skilled still photographers do is compose. They see the finished shot in their mind before they ever even put the camera to their eye. They instantly see the Rule of Thirds grid, or Divine Proportion, (also called Golden Rule), and they often say they “compose” shots everywhere they look, whether they are shooting or not. These are the people I call “The Eye”. They just have it, it’s in their brain, they “see” composition the way others see color. Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘digital’
How to be a Better Video Shooter, Learn from the Still Shooter.
New Canon Digital Cameras are here, including new Canon DSLR, the EOS 7D!
Canon has announced multiple new digital cameras today that combine elements of video and photography together to create some very impressive cameras. The new Canon EOS 7D is the start of a new series of DSLR cameras, perfect for amateurs and professionals alike. We had the pleasure of looking at the model and we feel it is a very impressive addition to Canon’s already successful line of digital cameras. Already leading the forefront when it comes to blurring the lines between still photography and video. The camera’s features include an 18MPX CMOS APS-C size sensor, a 94-shot burst mode, Full HD at 30p/24p/25p and more. It will be available late September and will run $1,699 for the body alone, with the full kit 28-135 at $1,899.
Also hitting the shelves in late September will be the ES100 Macro at $1,049 and the EFS 18-135 at $499. Coming in late October will be the EFS 15-85 at $799 and the WFT-E5 A will drop in early November at $699.99.
Aleratec’s 3rd Generation RoboRacer DVD CD Duplicator Needs No Computer
From an Aleratec Inc. press release.
Aleratec Inc., leading developer and manufacturer of “Prosumers’ Choice” solutions for the USB, Flash, HDD, Blu-ray, DVD CD, duplicating, and DVD/CD publishing markets, introduced today a new stand alone (SA) robotic disc duplicator. The DVD/CD RoboRacer SA is the 3rd generation of the highly successful RoboRacer DVD CD duplicator series and is a fully automatic, stand alone DVD CD duplicator with a 100 disc DVD copy or CD copy capacity. Stand alone means no computer is required and customers can load it with a source disc and up to 100 blank DVDs or CDs and it will produce 100 DVD or CD copies completely unattended. Read the rest of this entry »
Analog TV has died.
Tomorrow is the day that analog TV dies. It’s been a long time coming, and suffered set-backs, delays and seemingly endless confusion, but on June 12, 2009 the plug is finally to be pulled on all the analog broadcast towers in the USA.
Hard to believe, but this all started back in 1996. Yes, thirteen years ago congress passed the Telecommunications act of 1996, which spelled out a new High Definition signal called ATSC, and set the date for the end of analog broadcast in the US as December 31st, 2006.
In November of 2005, the switchover date was postponed to April 9, 2009, and in 2009 it was postponed yet again to June 12. In the meantime people have been installing their government subsidized tuners, and broadcasters have been itching to flip the switch. There’s an interesting timeline of the whole sordid process here.
It’s really a momentous occasion, for all of us in the video business. NTSC and analog transmission has served as the broadcast standard since 1941 (with a brief update in 1953 to add color). In today’s fast changing technologically driven world, it’s fitting to give a little respect to a standard that’s stood the test of time for 68 years.
Will ATSC last that long? I highly doubt it, and though whatever standard comes next (most likely 3d), it will still be broadcast digitally.
So those of us who are video professionals and enthusiasts, who have made a living, or works of art that relied on those waves beaming through the air, it’s time to note the passing of an age.
9:00 am, June 12th, 2009. Tune in on your old rabbit ears, and watch those stations sign off for the last time.
Someone should really play taps…
Videomaker Gives up Predicting Analog Transmission Deadline
Ok. We give up officially. The deadline for TV stations to abandon their analog broadcast channels was Feb 17th, then it wasn’t, then it was again, now it’s kinda June 12th if your local station wants to.
The latest bill that passed sent the drop-dead date out until June 12th, 2009. However most, if not all, analog broadcast stations were geared up to pull the switch on Feb 17th. Lawmakers are concerned that television viewers aren’t ready to make the switch yet, and that there was a large unfilled backlog of digital converter coupons still left to be sent out.
The problem for TV stations is that it’s pretty expensive to run those analog transmitters, and they already have the new digital transmitters ready to go. So they’ve allowed stations to make the change any time they want between Feb 17th, and June 12th. Which means the transfer will happen in a piece-meal fashion over the next 4 months, with some analog and some digital channels overlapping.
I’m wondering if the Congress tried really hard, they could make this transition even more confusing?
In the meantime, we’ve given up following this story, and instead I’ll just let you know when my TV is working, and you can follow the FCC website daily. 
Digital Switch Delayed
For those of you who were worried about the switch to digital and haven’t yet upgraded your television, it looks like you have another four months to choose one. Yesterday, the Senate voted unanimously to delay the switch until June 12. According to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.,“Delaying the upcoming DTV switch is the right thing to do, I firmly believe that our nation is not yet ready to make this transition at this time.” With the original date of Feb. 12, there was fear that viewers weren’t technically ready for the switch and the extension gives more people who have expired digital converter coupons, time to request new ones. Looks like penny pinching last minute consumers like myself, have at least four more months to pick out the right TV… Wait, that’s it?
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